Rights at risk: The fight for true community consultation continues in Peru

Is the newly elected Peruvian government turning its back on indigenous peoples’ land rights and putting profits before people? All the signs suggest they are.

Miguel Lévano Muñoz is a Program Officer for Territorial Rights and Extractive Industries for Oxfam in Peru.

Last week, Peru’s new Minister for Culture publicly claimed that prior consultation—a right of indigenous peoples enshrined in Peru’s national law—was merely a mechanism to generate “trust” with indigenous peoples and create “stability” for private investment. Those who follow Oxfam’s work in Peru know that this is a far cry from what the country’s landmark rule, specifying that consultations should aim to secure indigenous peoples’ prior agreement or consent for projects like mining, oil, gas and forestry actually requires. Fundamentally, it is a matter of human rights, of dignity, and of justice.

Why this backpedaling? The road to realize indigenous land rights in Peru has not been easy. Yet this latest Ministerial statement appears to signal the new Peruvian government’s willingness to sidestep its own legal procedures, justify efforts to fast track the approval of a new 30-year oil license over Block 192 (Peru’s most important oil reserve in the Peruvian Amazon), and ride roughshod over Kichwa, Quechua, Achuar and Urarina peoples’ land rights.

It has been more than five years since the landmark prior consultation law was passed and the then-government of Ollanta Humala agreed to implement the law’s parameters with the communities affected by Block 192. For a time, hopes were high that finally the government would act in good faith to achieve community agreement or consent prior to awarding a new oil license. Yet, after years of dialogue, four declared environmental emergencies, one health emergency, and two multi-sectoral commissions with government, company, and community representation, true consultation with communities in Block 192 remains unfinished. Despite this, a two-year temporary oil contract was awarded to Pacific Stratus Energy Company (under subcontract from PlusPetrol) for oil activities in the block. This contract is set to expire next month.

Rights at risk

Given the stalemate in negotiations, the fast approaching expiration of the temporary oil contract, and the election of a new President and government, earlier this year indigenous leaders (Apus) submitted a legal request for consultation regarding Block 192.

In June, two months after the request was made, the new Ministry of Energy and Mines finally responded, denying the communities further consultation regarding Block 192.

The letter is troubling on several fronts. First, it claims, “the consultation process was carried out and concluded in 2015 in accordance with the law.” Yet this hardly reflects reality, as negotiations stalled over a year ago when government negotiators failed to respond to indigenous communities’ request to establish a community managed trust fund for oil revenues, and communities were never consulted regarding the temporary oil contract. So it’s a mystery as to what prior consultation process they are talking about.

But it goes further. The letter asserts that the “consultation” they did for the temporary oil contract now covers all future oil contracts. (Conveniently ignored is the fact that the law requires each and every “new administrative procedure” to conduct its own consultation process.) Worse still, any future oil contract will certainly allow for future oil exploration in indigenous territories (something which was not part of the temporary agreement and, clearly, poses a major threat to the thousands of people whose lands and waters would be placed at risk).

All eyes on the Peruvian government

Faced with this political backflip, the Apus of the four basins in Block 192 are calling on the Peruvian government to:

Suspend negotiations with PlusPetrol until a new prior consultation process is initiated and held in good faith with indigenous peoples; and

Not proceed with any new bidding process until they guarantee that all toxic legacies will be addressed through a rehabilitation plan that covers all sites impacted in Block 192.

Hopefully we are wrong about the signals being sent by the new government. Hopefully the Peruvian government is standing strong, and will not put indigenous rights further at risk by privileging foreign investments and dismantling hard-fought gains.

Jorge Barrera APTN National News
Hundreds of Indigenous people have reportedly seized oil facilities operated by the subsidiary of a Canadian company in Peru’s Amazon region amid warnings of a wider uprising over the Peruvian government’s failure to consult with communities before allowing extraction on their traditional territories.

Members of the Indigenous Los Jardines community seized facilities in the Amazon region of Loreto operated by Frontera Energy Corp, a subsidiary of Canadian firm Pacific Exploration & Production, according to local and wire service reports. The people of Los Jardines also briefly occupied the airport in Loreto earlier this month.

The occupation is targeting one of the country’s largest oil fields. Frontera told Peruvian newspaper El Commerciothe action has impacted the production of about 2,000 barrels per day, but the company continues to produce about 8,000 bpd from the oil field.

The same installation was hit with an occupation which began in April and ended in June after Frontera signed a deal with Los Jardines and Alianza Nueva Capahuari, two of 18 Indigenous communities whose territories include Lot 192, one of Peru’s richest oil fields, according to local reports. The communities had demanded US$1 million from the company for use of their territory.

Wilmer Chavez, the leader of the Organizacion Regional Indigenas Achuar del Pastaza, told Reuters the occupation would end the moment the Peruvian government agreed to consult with the region’s Indigenous communities before renewing an extraction license for Lot 192, which will expire this year, according to reports.

Screen grab from video published by El Commercio of occupation.

Other Indigenous groups in the region are backing the occupation and warn there will be a wider uprising unless Peru begins proper consultations.

“If there is no prior consultation, my brothers and communities will brandish their spears and rise,” said Aurelio Chino, president of the Federacion Indigena Quechua del Pastaza, during a press conference Tuesday in Lima, the capital of Peru.

The latest occupation could reignite another round of serious conflict between Indigenous people in Peru’s Amazon and the federal government. The Peruvian government adopted a law in 2011 which enshrined a duty to consult on natural resource development projects.